


Inside This Place is Warm

by pinkfingernails



Category: Legacies (TV 2018)
Genre: Bakery and Coffee Shop, F/F, Fluff, Hosie, One Shot, Wholesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:15:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,326
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27571363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pinkfingernails/pseuds/pinkfingernails
Summary: One shot! Josie is studying abroad and meets a beautiful stranger at her favorite cafe.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson/Josie Saltzman
Comments: 8
Kudos: 91





	Inside This Place is Warm

**Author's Note:**

> this popped into my head today and i needed to take a break from my summer camp fic. i hope you like it:) p.s. the title is from Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood!

The cafe that Josie had been visiting every day for the past couple of weeks was especially busy this morning. The air was bitter and even through her multiple layers of clothes, Josie could still feel the chill bite of the wind. Nothing back home prepared her for the winters in Europe.

The cafe seemed to warm her up, though.

Studying abroad was Josie's dream ever since she was a little girl and traveling around Europe with her mother. It was a hard decision, though; leaving Lizzie back home. Leaving everyone she's ever known. Oxford University was _perfect_ , though, and she's worked so hard to get there. To Josie, it felt immediately like home.

Josie has only known about the cafe for about a month now, but she fell in love with it. It was tiny, very hole-in-the-wall; Someplace only the locals knew about. It was cozy and the workers were nice. Everyone she'd met in London was nice, if she's honest.

There was one barista, though, that seemed to keep to herself. She'd been rather aloof towards Josie whenever she came in, while the other baristas came to regard her as a regular. 

The woman had long auburn hair, curly, that fell just past her chest. She was slightly pale and whenever Josie got a chance to see her eyes, she'd noticed they were the most breathtaking blue Josie had ever seen. 

They'd reminded Josie of the skies back home in Virginia. Of days when the sun was especially bright, freckling her cheeks and casting shadows on her face while she'd lay under the trees.

The stranger's eyes felt like home. Like a childhood memory. Maybe that's why Josie kept returning to the cafe. 

In all honesty, the coffee was, well, coffee. It was quiet in there, though. If anybody asked, that was the excuse that Josie used. That way, she didn't have to think about the quiet girl there with the perfectly manicured nails and the hair that seemed to contain every shade of red and brown Josie could imagine. Like God handcrafted this girl and put her in a tiny coffee shop. Josie thinks this woman is someone the whole world should be able to say. Selfishly, though, she wishes she could have her all to herself.

Today, throughout the constant bustling of people, Josie has found it hard to concentrate. The cafe is usually slow at this time but since finals are coming up, Josie assumes everyone is trying to find a quiet place to study. Josie just wishes they wouldn't choose _her_ quiet place.

So, instead of studying as she should be, Josie people-watches; Leaning on her elbows and sipping a cup of tea while she watches each person that sits in the booths or moves through the tiny building.

After a while, she notices that the auburn-haired woman isn't standing in her normal place behind the counter. Josie hasn't noticed it before, but the girl isn't working today. She hadn't noticed, either, that the girl hadn't had a day off of work since Josie started showing up. Every day she went into the cafe, the girl was behind the counter. Like clockwork.

Today, though, Josie feels the absence. She ignores the pang of longing that hits her in the chest. She doesn't even _know_ this girl, why is she upset over a stranger's absence?

Josie shakes the thoughts from her head and returns to scanning the people around her. There's a couple in the corner of the cafe sharing a drink, huddled over a textbook. Josie's eyes move again to the counter, where a girl wearing an Oxford sweatshirt is ordering a drink. Josie switches her gaze one more time to the far corner of the room, where a pair of eyes partially hidden behind a book have met her gaze. 

The eyes immediately dart away, back down to the book in front of them. Josie examines the stranger more. The eyes meet her gaze again and Josie can't deny the shade of blue they are. Breathtaking, Josie thinks to herself, and she realizes who the eyes are attached to. 

Even from across the room, Josie can't mistake the girl for anyone else. She can see the locks of hair draped across the girl's shoulders like an auburn stream and despite the distance between them, Josie can't help but think the other girl has started to blush as much as she has.

A burst of confidence, or stupidity, propels Josie to the other side of the room, over to the corner where the stranger sits.

"So," Josie begins nervously. "You come here even on your day off, huh?"

The girl lifts her eyes from her book to meet Josie's and she's able to see just the depth of blue they really are. 

Josie holds her hand out for the other girl to shake but she just stares it at. "I'm Josie."

"I know."

Josie pulls her hand away slowly and widens her eyes.

"You come here every day," the girl continues, a small smile forming at the corners of her lips. "And every day I ask for your name and every day you tell me 'Josie'."

Josie searches for a way to respond but thankfully, the girl continues talking.

"I'm Hope."

_Hope_. What a fitting name.

"I'm Jo-" Josie stops herself and hope raises an eyebrow before both of the girls start laughing. "Nevermind. I should go you look... busy."

Josie begins to turn before Hope reaches a hand out to stop her from walking away.

"I could use someone to study with..."

Josie smiles and sits next to the girl, who has scooted over slightly to make room for Josie to sit. They spend the rest of the afternoon watching people in the cafe and talking and Josie gets to listen to the most adorable British accent she's ever heard for a whole afternoon. 

Hours later, when the cafe has mostly cleared out, Josie knows it's time for the two to part. They walk outside together and immediately Josie is hit with the chill of the winter air.

"I have a cat to feed," Hope says.

"And I have actual work to do. I couldn't get anything done all day, it was so busy!" Josie says, and both girls laugh.

"Well, Josie..." Hope begins. "Is that short for something?"

"Josette," Josie responds.

"Josette!" Hope repeats. "That's beautiful."

Josie blushes and Hope speaks up once again.

"I have discovered quite the list of study locations in my time. Maybe we can visit them together."

Hope's words make Josie's chest fill with something golden and, for a moment, she forgets how frigid it is outside.

"I would like that," Josie says softly.

With that, the girls part, and Josie watches as the head of auburn curls walks further and further away from him.

\---

The next day when Josie enters the cafe, as usual, Hope isn't behind the counter. The disappointment she feels at not seeing the girl doesn't come as a surprise to her, but her dismay is shortlived when, after the turns away from the counter, coffee cup in hand, she sees Hope sitting at one of the tiny tables.

"Hello, Josette," Hope says, and Josie quietly makes her way to the table, setting her coffee down gently.

Josie notices Hope has a piece of paper folded in her hand, which she unfolds and smoothes out when Josie sits down.

"All my favorite cafes around London," Hope explains when she notices Josie eyeing the paper.

"There's a lot," Josie says simply, reading over the list in Hope's hands.

Hope nods. "About fifteen. Think we can hit them all in one day?"

Josie's eyes light up and the smile that forms on her lips stretches from one end of her face to the other.

Josie nods happily, and Hope grabs her by the upper arm, and the two girls make their way to the first of _many_ coffee dates that day. 

**Author's Note:**

> this was super short but super fun to write. lmk what you think:)


End file.
